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DA: Book deal fuels Pa. murderer's plea withdrawal

The Associated Press

Posted:
03/29/2013 08:42:37 AM EDT

BUTLER, Pa.—A New Jersey man's attempt to withdraw his no contest plea to charges that he murdered his father and stepmother in western Pennsylvania, then told relatives they died in a fiery crash, is a ploy to help his mother publicize a book she's writing on the case, prosecutors said.

Butler County Judge William Shaffer didn't immediately rule on the request by Colin Abbott, 43, of Randolph, N.J., to withdraw the plea during a hearing Thursday at which prosecutors played recordings of jailhouse phone calls between Abbott and his mother, Deborah Buchanan, of Rockaway, N.J.

"It's a publicity start in the right direction for you; possibly for a book, possibly for other things, you know?" Abbott said to his mother in one call. In another, on March 6, he instructs his mother to email his attorney to say he wants to withdraw the plea, which he entered Feb. 26.

"To start the ball rolling, why don't you just email (the defense attorney) and say, 'My son wants to pull his plea,' and let's just see what chaos it starts," Abbott said.

Abbott entered no-contest pleas to third-degree murder in the 2011 deaths of pharmaceutical executive Kenneth Abbott and his wife, Celeste, at their stately home near Slippery Rock, about 45 miles north of Pittsburgh. The deal—which included a sentence of 35 to 80 years in prison—enabled him to avoid the possible death penalty or life in prison without parole had he been convicted of first-degree murder.

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State police said Colin Abbott shot the couple, dismembered the bodies and scattered their charred remains on their property, then called relatives to say they had been burned beyond recognition in a New Jersey car crash. The ruse caused his stepmother's family to post an obituary in her hometown newspaper.

Butler County prosecutors contend Abbot did that to inherit the bulk of his father's estate. Abbott went with his father to the First National Bank in Slippery Rock to retrieve a safe deposit box on June 6, 2011, where an employee witnessed changes Kenneth Abbott made to his will the previous month, according to estate records.

Police believe Abbott killed his father and stepmother shortly after the bank visit because by June 8 or 9, 2011, he was telling Celeste Abbott's relatives about the bogus car crash. After a family member asked about her death certificate for insurance purposes, Colin Abbott became evasive, and when the distraught family called the New Jersey State Police to ask about claiming the remains, they were told no such accident occurred, police said.

Pennsylvania State Police then found the charred remains behind the couple's home after New Jersey authorities requested a check on the couple's welfare.

Judge Shaffer did grant a motion by Wendy Williams to withdraw as Abbott's defense attorney. Williams said, "I helped save Colin Abbott's life," and denied his and his mother's claims that he was "pressured" into making the plea.

Abbott, who remains incarcerated, doesn't have a new attorney.

Abbott's mother, who attended the hearing, acknowledged owning Deadly Ink Press, which publishes murder mysteries, and said she planned to publish a book about her son's case if she couldn't find another publisher to handle it.

"I am talking to people about a book deal, I don't think there's anything wrong with that," said Buchanan, 64, who doesn't believe her son is guilty. "I am a writer. That's not why he wants to change his plea. He was under a lot of pressure."

District Attorney Richard Goldinger and Assistant District attorney Benjamin Simon argued that the judge should reject Abbott's request because there was no "manifest injustice" in the plea bargain.